The Ministry of Electricity and Energy and the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources apologized to the Egyptian people on Monday for extending the recently introduced three-hour power cuts until the end of the week instead of on Sunday and Monday previously.

In a joint statement on Monday, the Ministries of Electricity and Petroleum announced that despite pre-arranged plans and the Ministry of Petroleum already securing additional fuel to meet increased summer consumption, the extreme rise in temperatures has necessitated extending the already increased power cut duration in the load-shedding plan (becoming three-hour power cuts instead of two) until the end of the week to maintain the safe and stable operation of the gas network and power plants.

Immediate and urgent measures have been taken to import and inject additional shipments and quantities of gas and mazut to meet the increasing consumption amidst the ongoing heatwave, the ministries said, adding that they will keep the public updated on the situation.

The ministries also revealed the stages of the electricity load-shedding program nationwide till the end of the week.

Stages:

• Stage 1: From 2 PM to 5 PM.
• Stage 2: From 3 PM to 6 PM.
• Stage 3: From 4 PM to 7 PM.
• Stage 4: From 5 PM to 8 PM.
• Stage 5: From 6 PM to 9 PM.
• Stage 6: From 7 PM to 9 PM.

The announcement of the two ministries comes less than 24 hours after their initial announcement that the duration of power cuts nationwide will be extended by one hour on Sunday and Monday only.

According to their previous statement, the extra hour is needed to maintain the operational efficiency of the national electricity transmission and natural gas networks.

In May, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly directed the ministers of electricity and petroleum to develop a plan to stop the load-shedding power cuts by November or December 2024.

The load-shedding programme began in July 2023 to ease the growing strain on the country's gas network caused by rising temperatures and increased air conditioning usage.

In October 2023, the Egyptian government extended the duration of the daily power cuts, driven by increasing temperatures and a decline in gas imports.